Pernod Ricard Korea, the local branch of the world’s second-largest distiller, said that its flagship Korean brand Imperial Whiskey had won the top prize in a leading customer satisfaction index here.

The premium Scotch whisky was named No. 1. in the 2015 Korea Customer Surprise Brand Index, administered by the Trade Ministry-affiliated Korea Brand Management Association, officials said Thursday.

The K-CSBI aims at assessing the level of customer satisfaction for individual brands by converting customers’ responses into objective indices.

Every year, the KBMA would select from each major industry a single brand which has offered the most impressive product quality and service to the users.


The candidate brands are selected through a customer survey of about 1,000 respondents and then sorted out by a professional panel, officials explained.

“Over the past 21 years, Imperial has met the needs of local whiskey consumers while remaining faithful to the basic principles of Scotch whisky,” said Yoo Ho-sung, chief spokesperson for Pernod Ricard Korea.

“Once again, customers and experts recognized its value, which we will continue to share in the future.”

Imperial, launched in 1994 as the first Korean-manufactured premium whiskey, now consists of four products ― Imperial 12, Imperial 17, Imperial 19 Quantum, and Imperial 21. The brand also won the Red Dot Design Award in 2014 for its stylish bottle design.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)